OK. I have a burning question. How much longer before the venerable Supreme Court in our land strikes down the laws banning the sale of alcohol and tobacco to our underage children?

It seems that there is no reason to have these laws on the books any more. They only poison the lungs and the livers of their users. It is obvious we have no care about the poisoning of the minds of our young anymore so why care about the bodies?

I’m very concerned about the recent ruling of the Supreme Court on striking down the California ban on violent video games being sold to children.

The ban was lifted under the guise of “Free Speech” .

According to one definition from Wikipedia

“Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes used to indicate not only freedom of verbal speech but any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country and the right is commonly subject to limitations, such as on “hate speech“.”

I contend that delaying the time that a child can be exposed to such horrendous violence is not censorship of free speech. It’s the promotion of common sense.

As much as I dislike some of the things being said today, I support the right of anyone to say anything at anytime without being censored. I don’t have to listen. I can walk away or change channels. But I am an adult. I am not an impressionable child. Children must be protected until old enough to think for themselves.

I was in college in the 1960s when I first was introduced to the topic of children and violence. At that time it was noted that children (preschoolers) who watched cartoons portraying violence were themselves more violent when allowed to play with the boxing clown toy.

We are so far beyond the violence of the Road Runner and the Coyote anymore. We are at the point where the children can control the violence being perpetrated on their victims. How much longer before the video gamers introduce snuff actions into their games like the underground snuff films being sold? The kids aren’t allowed into theaters but the games are allowed to be brought right into their homes!

The military uses violent simulation games in preparing their soldiers to become killers. They call that “training”. My question: What are we training our children to do when they play the same types of games and worse in the guise of “entertainment”?

We can have the support of the law to help keep alcohol and tobacco out of teenager’s hands but we can’t have their support to keep violence out of their minds. SHAME on you, SC! The video gaming industry is making more and more “games” intentionally targeted for children yet you ignore that and let their money from their aggressive, influential lobbyists influence your decisions.

One argument is that it is up to the lazy parents to get up off their butts and monitor their children. With parents needing to be out of the house working to support the children, there are too many hours when they can’t be there. There are times when the older children play these games right in front of younger brothers and sisters. All while the parent cannot be in the home.

There is the argument that children can’t buy these games without their parents providing transportation for them to the store. Evidently those arguers have never heard of malls where dozens of stores await the money of their children. They’ve never seen the children on public transportation.

Yes, parents buy children the equipment for playing the games. That does not mean they intend to expose their children to such violence as found in these games. Teenagers have many ways to earn their own money for such things. They swap games back and forth among friends. One parent may prohibit such games but that doesn’t stop the child from playing it at a friend’s house.

One Supreme Court justice defended peddling violence to kids by stating that there has always been violence in the lives of children. He then cited the Grimm Brother’s story of Snow White. Come on, now! He sees no difference between Snow White and modern day video games? To me that’s like comparing vinegar to hydrochloric acid. Both can do damage but the hydrochloric acid does it much more rapidly!

To me this law reversal is one more in the path the Supreme Court is following. I strongly feel they are allowing the huge corporations to control their decisions. These are dangerous times. I cry for the children and all the others whose rights are being ignored in the interest of big money!

2 responses to “SC and Video “Games” Shame on You!”

As a gamer that can think outside of the box, I can see your reasoning… However, ratings are already printed on the boxes of every game and movie you buy. The ESRB rating system is there for a reason, Rated M for Mature audiences for example is for adults ages 17 or higher. No way a kid can buy a game without an legit photo ID or license. Only someone older then 17 or higher can buy the games for their kids because it is legal to do so… It is not as much for the kid buying the game then the adult that buys it for them, that is another issue. So it is like buying a rated R movie for a minor.

I am just surprised that (and this is from experience in real life) seen a parent for example buy a rated M game for their 14 year old kid, even showing a legit license didn’t stop them from buying it. So, there is an issue with video games in this regard.

Another thing is, I am not sure if you are a parent or not, if you see anything rated M for Mature, just don’t buy it for your kids. It is really that simple.

Another solution to this problem is to become more educated on the positives and negatives of video games. Yes, people can become violent due to video games only if their mindset is unstable to begin with. That would be a very good reason to worry. But yes, games are art, it takes talent to make it work and to create the characters on screen bad or not.

I am a parent and I thank God that he went through his teen years before the video games became so violent. When I wrote that I was thinking of Columbine. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/tieing-columbine-to-video-games/ and http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723. The second article speaks to “normal” college kids who played violent games. Violence affects us. Doom was created as a military training video. Kids have ways of getting what they want. If a kid wants to smoke, the cautions on the pack are not going to stop him or her. The warnings on videos won’t stop them either. Just this week, my home town had a country club who sold too many drinks to a man who then got behind the wheel and killed another driver. His blood level was twice the level for being drunk. The club lost a million dollars. Until there are consequences like that to stop the makers of the video games there will be more violence among those kids who are the least stable to begin with. Yes, parents just don’t have to buy it but I don’t know a kid who, if he really wants something, can’t figure out how to get it. Thanks for the comment.